Photo by David R. Ross – LBLUS.com
A veteran, professional musician of the Fort Campbell Army Band beautifully played taps during ‘Taps Across American’ at Fort Donelson National Cemetery at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day 2022. I was one of the folks on hand at the national cemetery May 30 to hear the moving rendition. I heard it twice. (Fort Campbell is located in nearby and neighboring Fort Campbell, Kentucky.)
Only a day or so before Memorial Day 2022 had I heard, or was told about, the Taps Across America. This is an organized effort for anyone and everyone who can play an instrument to be somewhere in the United States and at 3 p.m. in whatever time zone, citizens played taps in honor of our soldiers who gave their lives in defense of our country.
When I heard about Taps Across America I decided I would make certain taps was played at the Fort Donelson National Cemetery in my home of Dover, Tennessee in Stewart County. Stewart County is the home of the southern portion of Land Between the Lakes. All of the Tennessee portion of LBL is in Stewart County and Fort Donelson National Battlefield and Fort Donelson National Cemetery are both located in Dover, the county seat of Stewart County.
I actually have a regulation United States cavalry bugle. I bought it at an antique store in Kentucky a few years ago. Now, I cannot really play the bugle, but I can make an attempt to play one. Actually I was a trombone player for eight years in starting out in elementary school, junior high and high school. I started out on the trumpet but found the mouthpiece of a trumpet to be too small, so I was switched over to trombone.
Anyway, I have a bugle and I took it to Fort Donelson National Cemetery at about 2:40 p.m. on May 30 Memorial Day. (I had attended the Memorial Day ceremonies held earlier in the day at the national cemetery. Along with the bugle, I brought my faithful trombone and a few other musical instruments. One way or another, taps was going to be played at the Fort Donelson National Cemetery during the 3 p.m. Taps Across America. This has been a widely publicized event in recent years.
As I was pulling into the main entrance of the national cemetery, I saw a gentleman with a bugle in his hand. I though, “This guy looks like he knows what he is doing, so maybe I can just listen to him rather than play taps myself.” He was entering the cemetery grounds at the front of the cemetery headquarters building. I drove around to the back parking lot of the cemetery.
It was a gorgeous day all day long on Memorial Day 2022. The heat was down and humidity low and the beautiful sunshine was lighting up the grounds. Several families and folks were making their way around the hundreds and hundreds of small white headstones that line the grounds of Fort Donelson National Cemetery.
Pulling out the bugle I warmed up a little bit. There were some folks making their way close to where I was standing at the back entrance and I did a very low tones and quick warm up of taps.When I do not try to sustain the notes for long, I can get out a rendition of taps that can be recognized as taps. But, to really get the beautiful, haunting echoes of a well-played bugle playing taps, you have to have practice, chops and not be doing rather on the fly as I was preparing to do.
I walked into the cemetery with my bugle and there were several folks in various parts of the cemetery, walking the grounds and looking at the headstones and small American flags. The flags were flapping proudly in the brisk breeze that accompanied the day throughout Memorial Day 2022 in our part of the Land Between the Lakes area.
Again, I had warmed up with a brisk, somewhat shortened taps as a warm up, so technically I did play taps on Memorial Day 2022 in honor of the Taps Across America event. However, as 3 p.m. approached according to the clock on my phone, I could see the gentleman who had come in the front entrance of the cemetery grounds raising his bugle to his lips. When 3 p.m. hit, I heard the first ringing tone of a lone bugle echoing across the grounds of Fort Donelson National Cemetery. It was beautiful.
Everyone on the cemetery grounds stopped walking and turned their heads in the direction of where the beautiful, and lonely sound of taps wafted across the sunlight grounds of the national cemetery. Time and hearts stood still as the bugle echoed taps across the national cemetery. The American flags swaying with the breeze was the only movement on the grounds of the national cemetery.
After the last note was played, I took my old bugle and my camera up near the monument near the cemetery headquarters. There the gentleman was talking with a family of three who were nearby him. I did not know if the three people were with him, part of his family or just onlookers. Turns out the three members of that family were from Dickson County, Tennessee.
They had come up to inquire to the gentleman why he was playing taps at that time. He had told them about the Taps Across America. When I walked up he was also telling them some anecdotes about the Battle of Fort Donelson.
After he talked and paused a bit, I introduced myself and thanked him for using his talent and obvious experience to play taps on Memorial Day at the national cemetery. I told him, and the family there, that I had come prepared to play taps, either on my bugle, my trombone or one of the other musical instruments I had in my car. (I can kind of play a variety of instruments. I am not a master of any, but I can do the basics on several and a bit more than the basics on a few different kinds.)
It turns out, the gentleman had not played taps on a bugle, but what he had was a trumpet. A trumpet has valves. A bugle has no valves and only plays in one key.
He told me he had bought his trumpet at a yard sale some years ago.
I asked him, or told him, “I know you are a musician. I could tell that when I saw you walking up through the font entrance of the cemetery with your horn.”
He smiled.
He told me, and the family there, his name is Mike Noland and he lives in Clarksville, Tennessee. He said he had been a musician in the Fort Campbell Army Band and that he played french horn.
I know from my musical days in school that the french horn is one of the most difficult instruments to play. I held up my bugle. I asked him if he wanted to play taps again on a bugle.
He took my horn and looked it over and said, “This is a real U.S. Army cavalry bugle.” I told him I knew it was (it is stamped on the horn.) He took my old bugle from me and proceeded to play another perfect, sustained taps.
Bugle Echoes
All of us just stood quietly as he played.
After he handed my bugle back to me, I told him again I was glad he had been on hand to play taps so I did not have to make an attempt to do so on either the bugle or my trombone. I also mentioned I had a banjo, a six string guitar and a trumpet in my car along with the bugle and a trombone. (I actually had two trombones, a tenor and a bass trombone.)
When I mentioned ‘banjo’ everyone laughed. Mr. Noland said he had just told a joke about a banjo and I mentioned to him and them that the five string banjo, tuned the way a five string banjo is usually tuned can be used to play taps just by plucking the five open strings in the proper combination. Everyone laughed again. We were all glad there was no banjo playing during the Taps Across America event.
Everyone smiled. Everyone just walked their own ways.
The sun continued to shine and the breeze continued blowing softly Memorial Day 2022 at Fort Donelson National Cemetery.
As I looked over the rows and rows of small white headstones, I could still hear the echo of the bugle.
Photo by David R. Ross –LBLUS.com
Photo by David R. Ross
Photo by David R. Ross — LBLUS.com
